


The Attending

by mcrninglights



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Death, F/F, F/M, Gen, Haikyuu - Freeform, Hospitals, Inspired by Grey's Anatomy, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Reader-Insert, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, Suicide, Surgery, US Based because I'm only aware of the US healthcare system, more to be added as i come up them !
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-02-10 04:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18653299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcrninglights/pseuds/mcrninglights
Summary: ❝ Tsukishima Kei prides himself on many things, mostly that being his school and medical accomplishments. Second in his class at Stanford. First at UC Berkeley, and then first at Johns Hopkins. It's not something he hides, either, but never parades it around. And for a moment, for a moment, he was convinced that med school had taught him everything, prepared him for everything. After all, he wouldn't have been here if he weren't the best of the best, if he hadn't learned all he could. Med school was supposed to have taught him everything.And med school taught him a lot, but they never prepared him for something like this.-【 Doctor!Tsukishima Kei x Doctor!Reader x ? 】





	1. The Intern, the Cow and the King

**Author's Note:**

> 【 chapter one 】  
> 【 warnings 】none  
> 【 word count 】2347  
> 【 summary 】"Ignore the scalpel jockey."  
> -
> 
> it's been a hot minute since i've actually written anything, and this is all just general stuff to introduce the characters and setting but all comments and kudos are appreciated !
> 
> -
> 
> 【 tumblr 】 mcrninglights (personal) / hquties (writing)

Tsukishima Kei prides himself on many things, mostly that being his school and medical accomplishments. Second in his class at Stanford. First at UC Berkeley, and then first at Johns Hopkins. It's not something he hides, either, but never parades it around. And for a moment, for a moment, he was convinced that med school had taught him everything, prepared him for everything. After all, he wouldn't have been here if he weren't the best of the best, if he hadn't learned all he could. Med school was supposed to have taught him everything, Med School taught him a lot, but they never prepared him for something like this.

“I will make it my goal to make your life a living hell,” he says flatly, eyes scanning the crowd of doe-eyed, monochrome of blue scrubbed interns that look up at him hopefully, and he can’t help but roll his eyes. “In the crowd we have here,” the man continues on, pushing glasses up the bridge of his nose, gaze falling to the clipboard in front of him, scanning over the list of meaningless names before finally bringing his gaze up to the crowd once more, “I guarantee only 50 percent of you survive.”

Small murmuring from the crowd, as he can’t help but smirk at their own peril, watching their hopefulness fades from eyes and turns to fear, but his eyes fall on one girl.

She’s no taller than [height], and has her arms crossed over her chest, mint green scrubs folding as she does so, eyes directly pointed up at him, frown on her lips. [Eye color]  eyes lock his in place, and a shiver runs down his back, especially as she raises an eyebrow, before running a hand through [hair color] hair, lips pursed as she gives him a once over. An inaudible scoff tumbles from her lips, shaking her head, and he stands up straighter, as he turns his attention back to the crowd of interns once more. He recognizes the look that passes through her eyes: recognizance, then disappointment.

“Shut it.” He leans into the microphone, and the phrase is enough to make all of them fall silent, except for her, who keeps muttering something to the Ken Doll intern next to her, his obviously bed head hair style over as a flip in his hair, and it takes all he has not to snap at her right there. His gaze seems to be easily traced to the two, the crowd of interns all turning to look at the girl who speaks to the other lowly, before she cuts herself off mid-sentence, turning to look not at the other interns, but at the one still behind the podium.

Another shiver is sent down his spine. He doesn’t know why --- it’s this weird lingering feeling he would ditch if he could, but he can’t. “Is there something you’d like to share with the rest of your fellow grunts, intern?” He speaks the last word with every amount of annoyance and disdain that he can, but she doesn’t even flinch at his tone of voice. “I didn’t know we’d have to wait for you to finish speaking like we’re in kindergarten.”

A few moments to assess the situation, but she doesn’t speak, not yet, only side eyeing the rest of the interns, before closing her eyes with a sigh, waving him off, “My apologies, Dr. Tsukishima.”

He eyes for a few seconds, and she catches his gaze, rolling her eyes before crossing her arms over her chest petulantly, eyebrow raised at the other, waiting for him to continue.

He opens his mouth to speak again, but there’s one thing he knows for certain: she’s anything but sorry.

-

 

“[Full Name]. Internal Medicine.” She flashes a smile towards the other, shoving her bag into the locker haphazardly, grabbing the blue sports drink from the beige locker, turning to the other, sticking her right hand out for a hand shake as the other in light blue scrubs shakes it firmly.

“Kuroo Tetsurou. Surgery,” he says easily, eyes combing over the figure of the other, before a grin comes to his lips, “you make me wish I joined the dark side.”

She raises an eyebrow as she closes her drink and tosses it into her locker, haphazardly, “the dark side?” Slams it shut.

“He means Internal Medicine. Ignore the scalpel jockey.” Tall and brooding makes his way over, hands in aqua colored scrubs as he shakes his head, “all of them are meatheads.”

 

[Name] scoffs. “Riiiight.”

“Iwaizumi Hajime. I’m Internal Medicine too.”

A smile finds its way to her face as she shakes his head, Kuroo touching his heart in mock offense, frown on his lips. “I’m more than just a pretty face.”

“No one said you had a pretty face,” Iwaizumi deadpans, before turning to face the other, as if looking for her support, but her gaze is elsewhere. “[Name].”

The surgical intern slips away to the bathroom before Iwaizumi can say anything more to him.

“Hm?” Eyes are torn away from the figure through the window. He’s speaking avidly to what she can only assume as another attending, although her gaze is only focused on the blonde, not the brunette, contempt lingering on the intern’s features. “What?”

“You’re giving the Director of the best Diagnostics team in the country a death glare.”

“Your point?”

Iwaizumi frowns. “Weren’t you the one who...”

“He reamed out in front of the entire intern body? Yeah.”

“Not exactly the best way to start the year.”

“Whatever. It’s not like he can fire me for being a pain in the ass. I have a right to be here.”

Her gaze rests solely on the two interacting by the nurses station, only stopping when the brunette attending turns towards the intern break room, and Iwaizumi's hands land on her shoulders, not letting her turn around. “Hide me.”

“Hide you?” Confusion lingers in her voice as she cranes her neck backwards to try and look at her colleague, but head snaps towards the doorway as the two doctors enter through the door, all interns freezing as they change into, or finish changing into their scrubs.

“Rookies,” the flat toned voice speaks, and all rustling stops. She would know the sound of that voice anywhere; his gaze is anywhere but on her. “You’re about to get your resident assignments. Please don’t piss them off, because they have the means to kill you, and I really couldn’t care less if one or two of you went missing... it’d just mean more paperwork for the chief.” He drones on, glancing over the crowd, but as eyes catch hers, they quickly flicker over to the resident.

“Tsk tsk tsk, don’t scare them off, Tsukki,” the brunette pipes up, and she swears on her life she hears a female intern behind her sigh dreamily, but Tsukishima only glares at the back of his head. “Anyways, if you’re,” he lists off a few names, including Kuroo’s, “please feel free to follow me out and into the third floor west wing! I’ll be your resident this year!” He says in a sing song voice, waving as he leaves the room, as a string of interns follow him, one being the boy from earlier.

“Don’t miss me too much, [Name]!” Kuroo calls out from behind him, and she can’t help but laugh and roll her eyes as he does so.  
It’s only a few moments that pass as the other interns cower away or stare in awe at Tsukishima who’s moved to make room for them to file out.

The next resident comes in, and her face blanches at who it is. No less a snake, and he sees her, offers her that ugly smile, and she rolls her eyes. She’ll have to speak to him after her shift, but they break eye contact after he begins calling names out lazily. Another file of interns follow him out.

“Oh thank god,” Iwaizumi breathes out from behind [Name] who shakes his grip off her shoulder. A look that demand explanation, lips pursed as he shakes his head,

“I’ll explain later.”

“What makes you think we’re gonna see each other later? We might not even get the same resident.”

“Everybody goes to Ushiwaka’s after their shift. You should come.”

“...cow?”

He shrugs, and finishes slipping on a white coat over his scrubs, as she stretches a little small yawn passing her lips. “It’s tradition. I’ll —“

“Iwaizumi Hajime,” are gentle words out the woman wearing light blue scrubs. She’s got black hair and eyeglasses that both frame her face perfectly, as she smiles, calling out the last name.

“—I’ll see you later if you survive your resident,” he says in passing, being the last one out the room.

[Name] glances around, a frown on her face as she tries and get the hang of a few familiar faces, but it’s only four others that she doesn’t recognize.

“You five.” The others look up from what they’re doing, only to see Tsukishima leaning against the door frame, and for the first time that day, he looked something akin to happy. Amused. “You’re the lucky ones who got the King.”

She hears a groan from the back, and she turns towards them, only to see a boy not too much taller than her groan in irritation, running a hand through short locks that hang next to his head. “Dammit.”

The attending scoffs. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he takes it extra easy on you guys,” Tsukishima says flatly, leveling eye contact with [Name] as he does, smirking when he says his final words. “I’m sure you’ll have loads of fun.”

A nervous blonde, the dead face irritated boy, a short red head and a pudding head all file out. Or, moreover, shuffle out lethargically or out of hyper actively, as if ready to meet their inevitable death. She clicks her lock shut, and moves to follow them, only to be stopped by a hand gripping onto her forearm, and head snaps up to meet his gaze.

“I don’t appreciate your attitude,” is all he can muster up, golden gaze, “so either suck it up, or get out of my hospital.”

[Eye color] eyes lift and rise to meet his, cool fury all but bitten back behind her gaze, and it’s only through clenched teeth does she finally speak towards the other, “this isn’t your hospital, Kei,” and she gets the reaction she wants by seeing him stiffen at the use of his first name, “until you’re named as Chief of Medicine of this hospital, you can get your hand off me and get off your high horse.”

She rips her arm from his grip and all but shoves past him, and he’s about to call out after her --- but she’s already gone to find the rest of the interns that’s left for the King.

-

“Tsukki!”

“Don’t call me that,” he deadpans, looking up through his glasses, golden eyes meeting Oikawa’s, spinning pen in his hand.

“But we’re friends!”

His face blanches at his words, nib of pen ending directly on the line that requires his signature, “no, we’re not. I don’t like you. I don't want to talk to you.” He continues to read over the list of names boxed and highlighted; color coordinated for different residents, before rubbing at the bridge of his nose in irritation. Head is pounding and blood is rushing through his ear at the earlier encounter in the lobby of the hospital, the interns, the speech, the back talk --- her. “God, I need to speak with Suguru.”

Said attending stops in his tracks, grey clipboard of charts in his hands, and makes eye contact with Tsukishima, frozen in his spot; kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Me?”

“Dr. Suguru, stop right there,” he calls out, setting the clipboard on the nurse’s station, but the Cardiothoracic surgeon is frozen in place, as if thinking that if he doesn’t move, he doesn’t have to answer to the blonde. “I just have,” Tsukishima sighs, hand raised, before he motions to continue, “a couple of questions about [Name] before we talk to the interns.”

“Craziest thing, I don’t have the answers,” Suguru pipes up with a grin, and he’s already turned down the hallway, back towards the bathrooms that he had just emerged from, and Tsukishima rubs the bridge of his nose again, glasses moving as he does so.

“You know you’ll get wrinkles like that if you keep doing that, Tsukki,” Oikawa chimes up once again, and a glare is received from the Director as he goes back to the list of interns.

“Keep it up, Dr. Oikawa, I’ll give you scut duty in front of your interns if you keep talking like we’re friends,” he says flatly.

“I’ll get to you one day,” he says gently, before all sense of a smile is to leave his face, gaze flashing over to the small window in the intern’s break room, a small sigh escaping his lips that makes him sound too tired to be how hyper he was before. “That intern’s glaring at you.”

Kei doesn’t look up. “I know.”

“The same one from this morning.”

“I’m aware.”

“Do you want me to ask---”

“Why do you think I wanted to talk to Suguru?” He sighs, and finally finishes leafing through the papers, before removing it from under the clip and handing it to Oikawa. “Give it to the rest of the Senior Residents.”

He doesn’t take the papers. “And the girl?”

Tsukishima shakes them for emphasis. “[Name].”

He still doesn’t take them. “And the girl?”

“I’ll give her to the King.”

He lets out a low whistle, grabbing the papers from his hands, looking over them before grabbing his own paper with a list of names, passing off the small bundle of papers to Kiyoko. “You really have it out for her, huh?”

The Director shrugs. “Maybe.”

Oikawa grins, a sly grin that Tsukishima’s gotten used to either loving or hating. “Then let’s go torture some interns.”


	2. Vodka Tonic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 【 chapter two 】  
> 【 warnings 】alcohol  
> 【 word count 】3646  
> 【 summary 】“Seven years. Seven years!” She scowls, and there’s anger, so much anger lingering in her voice, frustration and bitterness unbidden on her tongue, and he’s too scared to look at her, and he visibly sags at her bitter words, “and nothing! Nothing! I hate you, you know that?”  
> 【 tumblr 】 mcrninglights (personal) / hquties (writing)  
> -
> 
>  
> 
> 【 Doctor!Tsukishima Kei x Doctor!Reader x ? 】

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all kudos , comments and bookmarks are appreciated! please let me know what you think! 
> 
> as for character ages, i know it's clear that some of the ages are being moved or shifted around, but people start medical school at different ages, although almost all the attending are 28+, residents being 24-26, making Tsukishima older than Kageyama, although I had Tsukishima around the age of 29, and the reader around the age of 23-24. i hope this helped lol !  
> 

“What was with the holdup?” Pudding head turns to [Name], but his voice is soft and non accusatory, curiosity just hinging on his voice gently as the other bounds up to the group of interns she’s been assigned with.

“What? I’m fine. Nothing. Dr. Tsukishima just wanted to talk about earlier,” [Name] says, awkward smile tinging glossed lips, waving him off. It’s not a complete lie, at the very least. She turns to get one last glimpse of said attending, but he’s gone down the hallway to their left before she can say anything else. She holds out her hand for a handshake, “I’m [Full Name].”

“Kenma Kozume,” he returns, shaking her hand lightly. “I think we’re just waiting around for our resident. He’s supposed to be here soon.”  
[Name] hums quietly in acknowledgement, gaze lingering on the walls of the hospital in some sort of awe as she leans against the Nurse’s Station gently, a sigh falling from her lips. Pride swells within her at the future, as she turns to Kenma. “Dr. Kenma, do you know what Tsukishima meant by the King?”

“It means he’s a tyrant,” the mop head from earlier says flatly, lazily leaning against the nurse’s station next to [Name]. “And that he’s the absolute worse when it comes to his interns.”

She raises an eyebrow at him, “and you know this how, Dr….?”

“Kunimi. Kunimi Akira,” he completes for the other, before a deep sigh escapes his lips, “and I went to med school with that asshole.”

Eyebrows shoot up at his proclamation, and [Name] can’t help but let out a small, “huh,” in confoundment, only to be cut off by a man in dark navy scrubs to come pounding in, flowing white coat coming from down the hall, as he snaps loudly. 

“If I’m talking, you listen, if I’m moving, you move, do you follow?”

[Name] and the rest of them all scramble to move after the raven haired doctor, as the small blonde pipes up with a small, “yes, Dr. Kageyama!” 

His pace never slows until he reaches another Nurse’s Station, and turns around to face the others, and [Name] nearly collides with the resident as the small redhead from before collides into her, and she turns back to glare at him. “Watch it.”

“Sorry!” He looks so nervous, as if he’s about to vomit right there, and her features contort in disdain as she turns around to face Kageyama once more. 

“You are the bottom of the food chain. You do the grunt work, you don’t complain, you don’t do anything I don’t tell you to do, and you do not wake me up unless your patient is dying, and by time I get there, your patient better not be dead, because then you’ll have woken me up for no reason.” He pauses, a sigh escaping his lips. “This’ll be your first shift at this hospital. I suggest you don’t pass out in the middle of your eighteen hours in front of your patient. It’s not reassuring.” He points to the tray of pagers. “Take the one that has your name on it.” They all clamber around, taking the pager that has their name pasted on it precisely. 

“Label maker? Really?” [Name] laughs, but a flush tinges the resident’s cheeks.

“Shut it.”

[Name] clips the pager to the band of her scrubs, the rest of the interns following suit, “uh, so what are we doing now?”

The look Kageyama offers her is less than impressed. “Rounds. You’ll be presenting the cases that you should have collected before the intern orientation,” Kageyama says, and [Name] swears she hears the short intern behind her curse under his breath, saying something about, didn’t I forget that in my locker, “However you all get the luck of having an attending with you today for observation as well. Don’t make me look bad,” he says bluntly. 

“A-An Attending?” The blonde girl chatters next to [Name], who looks over at her, clearly unimpressed. 

“I swear to god, if it’s who I think it is—”

“Are those interns for me to torture?” Snake like grin crawls onto pale face, hands in the pockets of dark teal scrubs, white coat just barely resting on his wrists, as he strides down the hallway, and the scowl that Kageyama wears is the same that [Name].

“---Suguru.”

-

“I said I’d be out to ruin your day today,” Suguru reasons with [Name], hands out like he’s been caught in the act, and trying to wiggle his way out of it. Stares from the nurses and interns and passing by attendings is enough to make her try and shrink away from their gaze, “I literally told you over your bowl of Frooty Tori that I was going to make your life a living hell today.”

[Name] hugs the clipboard with her cheat-sheets to her chest, a groan coming out of her lips, “Suguru...”

“It’s Dr. Daishou here.”

“Dr. Daishou,” [Name] glowers, “don’t you have some transplant to perform or something? I need to get back to rounding before Kageyama crucifies me. This is my patient that I need to present and you distracting me is not helping! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go show the other interns that I’m not a total moron. Dr. Kunimi is waiting to present with me.”

“I cleared my schedule just for you, don’t just shoo me off,” he coos, and she scowls, shoving him off with her one hand and entering the room, behind the group of interns and the one dubbed as the King, excusing herself as she squeezes past to stand next to Kunimi at the foot of the bed of the patient, who’s sitting up in the bed, with tubes attached to her arms, gentle smile on lips. 

The raven haired attendant opens his mouth as if to say something sarcastic, but he doesn’t, and instead lets the paper he’s holding up with his finger fall, and sighs, instead opting for, “Are you ready to present now, Dr. [Last Name]? Dr. Kunimi?”

“Right.” He nods briskly, and stands up straighter, looking at [Name], offering the ghost of a smile as he grabs the charts from the edge of the bed, holding it out so they can share it between the two of them. “Saito Hana. 28, and was admitted this morning after being involved in a single person car crash, having a history of a weaker immune system.” The patient in bed waves kindly to the other, eyes smiling behind circle glasses as she gives a small smile from tinted red lips. Her [eye color] eyes flicker around the room, eyes of the interns either on the patient, Kunimi, or her, and she exhales gently, eyes flickering over her own notes, and then the charts. For a moment, a moment too long, it seems too much, and her breath hitches in her throat.

“Dr. [Last Name],” Kunimi clears his throat, looking up through dark lashes towards the other, who’s frozen in place. Her gaze lingers on the chart, as she exhales. Flickers from the chart, to the girl sitting in bed, back to the chart, and even the words seem like gibberish, despite having gone over them multiple times a few hours before with a few other interns. A shaky exhale, trying to get it to make sense of the words, but it just won’t click. It’s like she’s reading for the first time. A gentle touch on her arm barely does enough to snap her out of trance. “Dr. [Last Name].”

“Right… Right, sorry.” She exhales awkwardly, looking at the charts, voice hollow, “she’s been having migraines for some bit of of time, as well as suffering from minor injuries due to the crash that were stitched up in the ER. Ortho came in earlier to realign her left ankle, but we’ve been keeping an eye on it, and other than minor soreness, her ankle seems to be fine.”

“Plan of action?”

“A prophylactic antibiotic to administered and a CT. If there’s any results of a concussion and if anything shows up, get a neuro consult and proceed from there… I think?”  
Kageyama raises an eyebrow. “You think?”

The girl freezes, mouth slightly parted, heart dropping into her stomach, but eyebrows knit together in a certain kind of determination as she levels with Kageyama’s gaze, 

“I know.” [Name] glances to Hana, who’s smiling as she does so, as she gives a little wave to her. Her gaze falls back to the charts.

“Alright. Wrap it up and order a CT so we can move on to Dr. Yachi’s and Dr. Hinata’s patient.” 

They begin to file out of the room, Yachi’s nervous voice filters into the room as she pipes up, leaving Kunimi, Daishou, and [Name], with Hana distracted by the tv playing some horrible daytime soap. [Name]’s eyes are still on the charts in front of her, as she swallows.

Another shaky exhale, as she blinks back tears. It’s easier to be angry, she thinks, earlier encounter with Dr. Tsukishima only fueled by her own bitterness and frustration but now that’s all that lingers on her tongue, and she’s not angry at him, but herself. Bitterness and frustration is enough to want to elicit vomit. She wants to be better. She has to be better.

“Dr. [Last Name],” Kunimi looks up at her curiously, and his voice is small and echoey, barely registers in her brain, as if he’s not even there, and she’s just trying to focus on breathing, just trying. 

“Is she okay?” Hana peeps up from her bed, and Kunimi musters the best smile he can.

“She’s fine.” His hand is just about to touch her arm, but Daishou smacks his arm away before he can touch her.

“I’ll do it,” he says bluntly, and with the gentlest of touches, touches her hand, smoothing the paper out, “[Name]?”

There’s no response.

“[Nickname]? Hey, look at me.” He taps her hands gently, hers covered by his, a small shake, and the far-awayness in her eyes exits, slinking away with its tail between its legs as her gaze snaps up to meet his, and she swallows, looking at him. 

“Sorry, Suguru.”

“It’s okay. Go order the CT and antibiotic. You can catch up to the group later, and I’ll page you if we need you, alright?” His voice is uncharacteristically soft for him, as he lets go of her hands, and she nods, locking eyes with him. “Go. I’ll see you later.”

She exits the room, leaving just Kunimi and Daishou, and he looks at him expectantly. 

It’s with a sigh does he run his hands through dark green hair, shrugging at him. “If she wants you to know she’ll tell you.”

“I assumed so.” 

“Go, Dr. Kunimi.”

“Yes, Dr. Daishou.”

And with that, he exits the room, leaving Suguru and Hana alone, but she’s already drifted off to sleep. He looks at the ceiling, as if looking for some kind of answers, but after a moment of silent, he leaves the room to follow her.

-

“Yo! [Last Name]!” Iwaizumi throws a hand up, waving the intern over from the door, the dimly lit bar smelling of nothing but booze and sweat, string lights on small hooks across the edge of the wooden bar, booths and tables lining where the bar itself isn’t, a dart board in back with a jukebox right next to it; hazy lights and laughter filling the bar, Stevie Wonder playing in the background gently. “Over here!” A grin breaks onto her features, as she walks over to the booth, sliding into the empty seat next to him, and he gives her a small smile. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.”

A moment where their eyes catch, and for a moment and [Name] swears she sees a flush of pink on his features, but it’s gone as quickly as it came, as he quickly goes around the table, “well, you know Kunimi,” said boy gives a wave to her, “Kindaichi,” he looks like a turnip, “and Yaku.”

“I’m PEDS. Yaku’s OB-GYN,” Kindaichi says, shaking her hand that she’s stuck out, and Yaku smiles at her, shaking her hand right after.

“Nice to see that your first shift hasn’t killed you.” 

She throws her head back in some kind of laugh, shaking her head, running a hand through her [hair color] locks, shaking her head. “I screwed up during rounds. Completely froze up, I’m glad Dr. Kageyama didn’t kill me right there in front of the patient.”

Kindaichi and Kunimi both share the same sharp inhale. “You didn’t do that badly. It looked like he barely noticed,” Kunimi reasoned, and Kindaichi still has a blanched look on his face.

“Just don’t let it happen again, or else he’ll bring it up again. He’s like a bad ex-girlfriend.” 

“You went to school with him too?”

“And with him,” Kindaichi slaps Kunimi’s back enthusiastically, “and the King is a prodigy until the end, I guess.”

[Name] frowns, and shrugs, before yawning. “God, I should’ve just gone home.” Yaku and Iwaizumi both share a look with her, but she glares at Iwaizumi, “you’re the one who invited me. Don’t give me that look!” 

“I didn’t think it’d be that bad, but I just had a bad case during rounds, and I almost broke face in front of Dr. Shimizu, and Dr. Oikawa were there… it was bad.” Iwaizumi shakes his head.

“I really liked my resident, for what it’s worth. She’s really nice. Knows what she’s doing and was super supportive of us the entire time. Her name’s Dr. Yamaka.” [Name] blanches at the name, but before Yaku can ask her what’s up, a slam of metal tray on the table, booze spilling over the small little shot glasses, and as her eyes trace up the body, and a small smile curls upon her lips.

“Like what you see, [Name]?”

“Who invited the Ken Doll?”

“It was me, actually,” Iwaizumi says, reaching over her to grab a shot glass, “I knew I kept you around for something.” Hands grabbing at the shots, and [Name] grabs one shot too, looking up at him inquisitively.

“It’s tequila. On me. God knows how much you guys need it.” He grabs his own shot, and they all clink together before knocking it back together, it burning throats as it goes down, and [Name] visibly straightens her spine. That’s one way to wake up. He throws a wink at [Name], jabbing a thumb towards the dartboard in back. 

“Come meet me when you’re sufficiently drunk so I can kick your ass in darts later?” 

She smiles and nods, eyes lingering on his form as he walks away, a bunch of hoots coming from the other surgical interns as he swipes up the darts from the table, and she turns back towards her own booth.

Yaku shivers, “I’ll get the next round.”

Her stomach rolls over at his words, and she frowns, looking at Iwaizumi. She’s never considered herself to be a lightweight, or someone with a low alcohol tolerance, but it’s just not sitting well with her, and she leans against Iwaizumi who stiffens at her contact. Her gaze meet’s Kunimi’s, who raises an eyebrow ever so subtly at her, but he doesn’t say anything as Yaku exits the table. It’s another moment as he relaxes with her head on his shoulders, and she closes her eyes.

-

It’s hard to tell how many shots she’s had, but enough to be sufficiently buzzed, shot glasses littering the table near the four interns, with Kindaichi and Kunimi arguing over the jukebox in the corner over which song to play next, leaving Iwaizumi and [Name] slumped against each other, as she groans in pain. Vision is blurred and head pounds, and all she wants to do is sleep, but she knows she has to walk home and eventually be okay for rounds tomorrow.

A close lean in towards him, locking [eye color] eyes with him, “I’m gonna get us water, okay?”

He looks at her, head canting to the side ever so gently, before he nods. “Sounds good.”

She slides out from the booth, standing up, swaying ever so lightly, but using the booth to stablize her, pushing through the familiar faces of the crowd that she saw throughout the day, sizing up the man behind the bar wearing a maroon polo, shaking a drink in the martini shaker. Saying ‘excuse me’ past other people, and elbowing her way through, but after being shoved by some other sugical jockey, she’s pushed into another person, and falls to the floor, on her ass.

“Are you alright?”

Body responds to the voice before brain does, and she looks up to the person. “Kei…”

For a moment, he’s ready to bite at her, fire in his voice, respond with all the anger that she’s all but shoved down his throat every moment she’s gotten the chance, but as she’s already looking down at the floor, as if considering just sitting on the floor. “You’re drunk.” His voice is plain and blunt, but not angry. Hands reach down to grasp her hands, and he pulls her to a stand once more, and she sways, a frown on her lips, hand rubbing at her temple, and before he wraps an arm around her waist to steady her. How easily she leans into him does not go unnoticed by him, but he doesn’t comment on it, instead, “How much have you had?”

“Several… several shots…?” She doesn’t look sure of herself as she looks up at him, eyebrows knitting together, “maybe seven…?”

“Jesus Christ.” 

“Oh! And a rum and coke. Or two.” She giggles, as he ushers her towards the bar stools, sitting next to her as he sits her up, looking at the bartender.

“Can we get a water and a vodka tonic?”

He doesn’t say anything, only a brief nod and something that sounds like a grunt of approval, and Tsukishima’s eyes linger on [Name], who’s picking at the cuticles on her fingers, and the bartender reappears almost magically, setting the drink down in front of him, and the cup of water in front of her. He takes the small black straw, taking a sip through it, facing the bar, before golden eyes flicker over to her, “drink your water.”

“I don’t want to.”

“[Name], don’t be a child,” he says, and she looks at him, eyebrows knitting together, “drink your damn ---”

“You make me really upset,” she says quietly, and even over the pounding music, he can still hear her. Sobered up beyond her years and as if she’s never touched a lick of booze in her life. 

The attending scoffs. “Never would have guessed.”

[Name] turns to her glass of water, “I wish you would’ve…” Kei’s silent, and she takes it as a pass to continue, as she takes a sip through her own little black straw, before she turns to him, eyebrows knitting together, exhales through her nose, already working herself up, as if just realizing how angry she is, “no, no, nevermind, I don’t --- you’re a dick.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“Seven years. Seven years!” She scowls, and there’s anger, so much anger lingering in her voice, frustration and bitterness unbidden on her tongue, and he’s too scared to look at her, and he visibly sags at her bitter words, “and nothing! Nothing! I hate you, you know that?”

“I know.”

She scoffs, “and I thought that you… I thought you cared.”

“I did. I do.”

“Right. Right.” She scoffs, and stands up, pushing herself away from the bar, and scowls at him, and petulantly it comes, “and I’m gonna go have fun, with my --- my intern friends who do care about me, like Kuroo!”

So that’s Ken Doll’s name. The more you know. “[Name] don’t you dare,” he stands up to follow her, hand reaching out to her shoulder, but she shrugs him off.

“Stop it! Stop it! Just --- Just go… away… I don’t...” Her eyes are watering, and she shakes her head, and if a tear falls, she scrubs it away with the heel of her palm, and sniffles.

And with that, she bounds off to Kuroo, booze oozing from her every step, as she practically flies into his arms that were held open for a hug; all the other surgical interns, Ken Doll looking interns, scalpel jockies whooping as she does so, spinning her around as if they’ve been best friends for their entire life. A frown is plastered onto his features, and he looks away, as if too afraid to see what they might do next.

So instead, he nurses his drink, and finishes it by downing it, and exits the bar with one last glance thrown over his shoulder.

-

“You’re up early,” [Name] says quietly, still dressed in high waisted jean shorts and a [favourite color] baseball tee, setting her purse down on the chair across from Suguru, who’s hair is still messy from the night before. “I thought you didn’t have to go in until 7 today.”

“I don’t,” he says quietly, setting his spoon down in the bowl of colorful, circular cereal, before pointing out a bowl adjascent to him, spoon already in. “Milk’s in the fridge.”

“Thaaaank you,” it’s a long and drawled out thanks, as she yawns, “although I still think it’s a bit too early for you to be up. Why are you up?”

“Miss your first day of work? No way,” he scoffs, “I need to make your day a living hell.”

“You’re a jackass.”

“You love me anyways.”

“Debatable.” She grabs the milk out of the fridge, and slides into the chair in front of him, pouring the cereal, and then the milk, before glancing up at Suguru. “Love you.”

“Loser.”

“Give me a ride to work?”

“Sure.”


	3. The Frat Party, the Kyotani and the Pizza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 【 chapter three 】  
> 【 warnings 】sexual assault, graphic depictions of genital mutilation, heavy drinking.  
> 【 word count 】5624  
> 【 summary 】“Oh my god, that was. Did that physically hurt you to make that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's some major things coming out in this chapter including the reason why suguru and the rookie live together. an imporant character is introduced. the actual chapter contains mention of a past rape / sexual assault so please read with caution.
> 
> kudos and feedback are always appreciated.

“We’re having a party tonight,” the rookie says happily, pulling on the classic yellow trauma scrubs, followed by the blue gloves to match, “you should come.”

“A party?” Kunimi looks unsure of what she’s suggesting, pulling on his own set of trauma gown and gloves, eyebrows knitting together as he looks at his friend --- dare he call her that --- as he motions for the two of them to move together down towards the ambulance bay. Spending his day in the pit awaiting the trauma that had been called in earlier is better than scut duty, he supposes. “Who’s we?”

“Me and Kuroo and Iwaizumi. And Yaku. And Kindaichi. We’re all setting up after our shifts and it should start at around… ten? Ten thirty?” She doesn’t look too sure of herself, before shrugging. “We’ve invited most of the interns here. It shouldn’t be too big, a small get together.”

Kunimi considers it as the automatic doors of the trauma bay opens, cold early morning air blasting both him and [Name] together, making their features blanch. “I’ll probably be there…I don’t think I have anything else to do today.”

“And you don’t think there’s something better to talk about than about whatever frat party you’re throwing when there’s an MVC coming in?” Both heads turn towards the monotone voice, and her facial expressions drop. She crosses her arms over her chest, wind blowing through her as she rubs at her arms lightly to try and bring some kind of warmth to herself.

It comes bitterly, the words out of her mouth, “it’s not a frat party. In fact, you can come tonight and I’ll prove it to you.”

He rolls his eyes behind thin frames at her, as he shakes his head. “And be surrounded by interns? No thanks. I’d rather stick a fork in my eye than do that.”

“A simple no would’ve sufficed.” 

He’s about to respond when the red ambulance slides in, loud sirens blaring with the intent to make people move as the doors swing open, and a short man with a lightning stripe down his dark brown hair and a shaven head slide the gurney out of the back of the ambulance, bringing her down before heading right over to the tall blonde. “The victim is Kyotani Yue, 22 years old. Passenger in an MVC. BP and heart rate is up and she was barely stabilized in field but she damn near went through the windshield.” The smaller man is talking at a million miles a minute as Kunimi and [Name] both rush to the side of the gurney. Her eyes are fluttering open and shut, soft amber iris and large pupils, light brown hair messed up by the head immobilizer. Off in the corner of her eyes she sees Tsukishima pull the chart from the bald head, as he glances over the clipboard. Out the other, Kunimi stands over her, and for the first time, she sees some flash of emotion cross his features, gloved hands brushing hair out of her face, bleeding countenance, and it's barely a small word that passes out of his lips,

“Yue.”

“Kyotani? It’s Yue? You’ve got to be --- Thanks, Tanaka,” Tsukishima says, before he’s barking orders to the two interns, “what are you waiting for, Kunimi, Rookie? Are you going to wait there until she bleeds out in front of us? Get her to trauma room one, now!”

-

“Her pupils are blown and BP is up.”

“She has a raised ICP. Dammit. Page Sugawara for a neuro consult. Kunimi, intubate her,” he says calmly to the rookie, looking down at the patient, listening to the sound of her heart monitor as he pulls a light out of his pocket, shining it in her eyes, as if to double check if her pupils are already blown. 

“On it,” [Name] says reassuring the attending, exiting the room, leaving just Tsukishima and Kunimi, who’s all but shoving the tube down her throat, eyes on the monitor, as her blood pressure goes down and heart rate does as well, if not a lot, just slightly. They both step back with a sigh, and a frown settles itself onto Kunimi’s lips.

“I didn’t think you’d be the one I’d need to scold first about this,” Tsukishima says, as he pulls off the gloves, trashing it in the bio-hazard trash bin, “but I’ll do it since it clearly needs to be addressed. Do the job.”

Kunimi looks up from the hole he’s burning into Yue’s features towards the attending, confusion lingering on his features. “Excuse me?”

“You know Kyotani. I don’t know how, or why, and I don’t care, but you froze out there,” he said, pulling off the yellow that’s been stained red from the interaction, “and that’s not something we can afford. She might’ve been able to, but not the next one. If not that one, then the next one. I don’t need you freezing up on me. Get Yue rolled out of here.”

Kunimi’s eyes drift to the woman still in the gurney, “of course. I understand.” A pause, as he begins to pull off his gloves, before eyes flicker over to the attending. “Dr. Tsukishima?”

He turns back to the other, raising an eyebrow, “what?”

“How do you know Yue?” 

“What do you mean?”

“You called her by her first name. Like you were… I don’t know…” The intern frowns.

Kei sighs, shoving his hands into his white coat pockets, looking at him. “Don’t worry about it. There’s some things that shouldn’t be explained. Get her to the ICU.” 

“Right away.”

-

“Dr. [Last Name]. Dr. Kunimi.” The two look up from their lunch trays, the table’s scattered conversations and glances now focused on the tall blonde with “I’ve stolen you off of the King’s,” emphasis and disgust on the last word, “service so you’re with me for today.” He gives one other glance over the rest of the table: Kuroo shoveling what he can only assume is chocolate pudding into his mouth, avoiding his gaze, Iwaizumi who has a textbook laid out in front of him, post it’s sticking out of it, and two other interns he knows he assigned to the King’s group.

“Stolen?” Kunimi whispers to [Name], who only shrugs as she shoves another spoonful of salad into her mouth, putting it one of her cheeks. “I didn’t realize we were cargo.”

Tsukishima turns on his heel, walking towards the double doors of the cafeteria, pausing halfway through, turning back to the table, “annoying twins. Are you coming?”

“Is he talking to you two?” Kuroo questions, as Kunimi and [Name] exchange another look, before scrambling up to follow the attending out of the doors. Colors of marble passes underneath them as they cross the walkway, light coming in through the windows from the mid morning light

“Who’re we on?” Kunimi dares to ask, “we were going to be in the pit before hand, but…”

“You’ll see in a moment, Kunimi.” He waves off the intern, keeping the fast pace as he strides into the westernmost wing, sliding past the nurses and other doctors smoothly, greeting those politely who spoke to him. It’s a new sight for [Name], she’ll admit, she’s only really seen him as the tall asshole who just so happens to be her boss this time around, but her and Kunimi stop in their tracks as does Tsukishima, as he turns to look at them. A quick glance at the door number -- 3333, how odd --- before she turns to Tsukishima. “I’d prefer you don’t kill this patient.” 

And with that, he swings open the door, and they stride in. “Kei!”

It’s a shocker, enough to send the other two interns into a stiffened stance, especially as a sly grin comes to his features, “Yue. You look good.”

“You don’t have to --- to lie to me like that,” she clears her throat, pushing light brown hair out of her eyes gently, and then [Name] sees it. Little cuts litter her arms, all jagged and random in places, and there’s sutures on her cheek, and she can presume under the blanket her legs show similar; a large cut on her forehead had been stitched up as well, all from almost going through the windshield. “You should’ve seen Shigeru. He was pacing up a storm when he was finally allowed to see me. I thought he’d burn a hole through the floor at the rate he was going out.” She smiles, but winces as her smile goes up too far, before turning to the other two interns, and despite it all, she smiles at Kunimi too, even though it clearly hurts. “Akira!”

“...hey.” It seems to be the only thing he can muster up, as he picks up her chart, “it’s nice to see you again,” he continues, eyes flickering over the chart, obviously unable to keep his eyes on her for too long.

“Well, maybe not under these circumstances,” [Last Name] jokes, but she stops when Tsukishima shoots her a look, and she looks over the shared clipboard with Kunimi. “Uh, Yue Kyotani. 22. Admitted at 04:50 this morning after an MVC, and being… shot putted out the windshield. CT... showed signs of concussions, and an elevated ICP, but it was handled in the ICU. Dr. Sugawara... came in earlier for a neuro consult, who plans on coming in tonight and assigning someone to watch her levels overnight. If nothing else happens, she should be free... to go home either tomorrow or Sunday, depending on how her injuries are healing up.”

“She’s currently not taking anything for pain,” Kunimi’s voice speaks up, making [Name] look up from the chart, “should we administer anything for it? And what happened to the driver?”

Tsukishima frowns, looking at Yue, who grins uncomfortably, “if the situation should arise, feel free to. How are you feeling, Yue?” 

“I’m fine. For the most part. I kind of want to go home. I have cases that I need to prep for,” she says, shrugging her shoulders. “And the driver was Shigeru. He was okay, but the seatbelt in the passenger seat was busted, so when it happened, I went pew. Or so he says. I don’t really remember much last night after the party. Good thing I was preeetty much blacked out. I don’t remember getting in the car.” She makes a small parabola with her pointer on her free left arm.

“Anyways, I want you two on her like a hawk this shift,” Tsukishima commands, sighing, as he checks his watch. “It’s just a concussion, but I want to make sure nothing happens while I’m gone. If anything happens, you page me.”

“Oh please, you don’t have to listen to the handsome grump,” Yue says with a laugh, waving him off, and Tsukishima flushes pink, sputtering some response, but she cuts him off, “he’s only doing this because he’s afraid that my brother is going to sue the hospital. Although, I have to say, Kei aged like a fine wine.” She wiggles her eyebrows.

“ _ Yue---!! _ I can neither confirm nor deny those accusations, Kyotani,” he says, but he’s still blushing at the earlier comment made by her. “It’s not my fault your brother is name partner at our most hated law firm.”

“You only hate him because he sues the hospital on behalf of some clients. It’s his job.”

Tsukishima sighs, but there’s a small trace of a smile on his lips as he motions to Kunimi. “Dr. Kunimi here will be taking your vitals, so let him know if you’re having any pain or anything, okay?”

“Alrighty! Sounds good!” She smiles up at Kunimi, who smiles back at her, [Name] raising her eyebrows in some sort of surprise, before she looks between Yue and Kunimi, who’s already pulled out his stethoscope, and finally she speaks up.

“Dr. Tsukishima,” [Name] says politely, “outside?” She motions to just outside Yue’s room, as he gives her a look, before nodding, the two leaving the room, as the rookie closes the door behind the two of them quietly. She throws a glance over her shoulder through the window of her room, looking through the blinds. Kunimi’s in the patient chair next to Yue, and she can see his hand resting on top of hers gently. Weird. She makes a mental note to ask him about this later.

“[Last Name], please don’t waste my time. I have another case to research, and you standing there looking longingly at Kunimi is, by the way, a waste of my time,” he says, rubbing the bridge of his nose, anger radiating from tone. Or it’s irritation. She can’t tell.

“Why are we looking over Kyotani?”

“She said it herself. It’s so her hotheaded older brother doesn’t overreact to what happened---”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. You could’ve had any other,” her eyebrows knit together in a certain kind of frustration, “had any other intern look over her. You not only pulled me away, but Kunimi too. So, cough it up.”

The attending sighs, sticking his hands in his pockets, fiddling with his pager in one. “Kyotani Yue was my first patient back when I was an intern. I was called in for a consult for PEDS and she was there. Diagnosed her Gliosarcoma.”

“Really? That’s it?”

He blanches, “we kept in touch after she left. Emails, texts, stuff like that. She reminded me that… she just has a personality that’s too bright to ignore.”

“That doesn’t explain why we’re here.”

“Because clearly, Kunimi knows her as well,” his gaze lifts to where Kunimi and Yue are actively engaged in some inaudible conversation, as he writes something down in her chart, a small smirk coming to his features as she brightly says something. “And you’re… one of the b---” he stumbles over the word, “buh…” another stumble, as he straightens out his coat, “best. And she needs the best.”

“Was that a compliment?”

“No.”

“Oh my god, that was. Did that physically hurt you to make that?” [Name] looks at him mockingly. “Are you okay? Do you want me to check your temperature?”

“Oh, shut up.”

-

“The five stooges. The annoying ones. Kunimi, [Name] (dubbed the Rookie by most, probably Kageyama’s or Tsukishima’s doing), me, Iwaizumi and Yaku. That’s what the residents call us, you know? We’re not even all in the same specialty.” Kuroo states, slumping against the brick wall of the hall of gurnees, back area that no one dares go into. It seems more of a storage area anyways, with a vending area just before it. “We hang out too much.”

“So? Who cares?” [Name] snorts, taking a handful of popcorn out of the open bag Kunimi presents her, “it’s not like you’re bounded by contract to be here, scalpel jockey.”

Iwaizumi coughs to try and cover up his laughter, but is only rewarded with a potato chip thrown in his face by Kuroo. 

“It’s not that bad. You could be with that other intern group,” Yaku reasons, as he plops a blueberry in his mouth, “who is it? Hinata? Yachi? I’m not sure of the others…” The rest look to the ceiling in contemplation, before the simultaneous beeping of pagers go off, and Kunimi and [Name] both pull their pagers off of the elastics of their scrubs, and curse.

“It’s Yue! She’s coding! Shit, shit, shit, shit!” She’s already hopped off the gurney, and Kunimi and Kuroo follow as [Name] swipes some hand sanitizer near the nurse’s station, tearing off towards 3333. “Kuroo?”

“Wanted to see you in action,” he says, jogging next to the two Internal Medicine interns, “besides, a good face like me, and good hands like me? You can’t go wrong.”

“Just stay out of our way when we have to do our jobs,” Kunimi says sharply, as the three burst into the room, with no one by Yue’s side as she lays in bed, small tremors going through her body, and his eyes look over the woman, then the bedside monitor, eyes squinting, before, “she’s in v-fib! Get me a crash cart, now!”

“Where the hell are all the nurses?”

“Who cares?” Kuroo comes rolling it in, saying it through clenched teeth as Kunimi’s ripping off Yue’s gown, and the wires, as [Name] pulls the paddles off the cart.

“Charge to 300!” She barks, and Kuroo moves with such amazing speed, and when he calls out “charged”, it’s only another second does she yell, “clear!”

“Clear!” Kunimi calls out, holding his hands up.

Above her right side and right under her left pectoral, she places the pads, and Yue’s body visibly jumps up at the voltage going through her, eyes shooting open, as her heart monitor returns to it’s normal beeping, and a huge sigh as she coughs, eyes watering, as Kunimi leans over, a sigh heaving from his chest.

“Are you okay?”

“Get away from me,” she says quietly, her body still shaking, eyes flickering over to the other interns, as someone sprints in. Tsukishima, visibly shaken, hair messy, supporting himself with the frame of the door as he swings in. “Get away from me!” It’s a screech that’s heartbreaking, fear crawling through its every note, and Kuroo all but holds his hands up. Kunimi is frozen in place, [Name] still holding the defib paddles in her hands. 

They’re at a standoff: too afraid to move, unsure of what the patient will do or scream—and he dares to hiss at [Name], “what the hell happened?”

Golden eyes flicker between the interns, and to Yue, who’s cold sweat drips down her face, mixing with tears that leave her eyes, arms wrapped around her chest, gown underneath to hide herself. “Please leave.”

“Yue,” Kunimi begins, and her eyes tear up, shaking her head. 

“Kyotani. My name is Kyotani. Don’t call me that, please,” she says, rubbing away at the tears that fall with her free hand. 

“Annoying twins. Ken Doll. Out. I’ll be taking over the case again,” he says softly, and she’s so close to snapping at him, [Name] feels it boiling under her tongue, under her skin. Does he think they’re not good enough anymore? He called her --- he called her one of the best! She opens her mouth to say something, but quickly closes it. He’s not even looking at the other, just at the patient in the bed who’s sobbing for her life.

They file out quickly. Quietly. Kuroo taking [Name]’s hand in his, pulling her out as her gaze lingers on the sobbing patient and Kei, who’s whispering something to Yue that she can’t quite hear, but she’s tugged out of the room. She tosses a glance over her shoulder at Kunimi, who’s still lingering in the doorway, but when he finally leaves the room, he leaves the way opposite of her.

A glance into the window of the room, and she swears on her life, that’s the first time she’s seen Kei show any kind of softness. 

Any kind of hurt.

-

“You’re still here?” [Name] picks her head up from the nest she’s made with her legs pulled to her chest, head having just been in her arms, as she scrambles up, dusting off her scrubs, looking at the assortment of textbooks and charts littering her in a small, messy circle. He bends down to pick up one of the piles of paper, looking over it, “I thought…” His voice drifts off as he looks over the charts once more, “I thought you had to go run your frat party.”

“I do. I’m supposed to pick up some more booze. It starts in about an hour, but I wanted… I wanted to…” She rubs at her eyes and yawns, before looking up at him. “So you do listen when I speak to you!”

“Contrary to popular belief, sometimes you have smart things that come out of your mouth,” he mumbles, but his eyes are still on her charts. 

“Oh, yeah. Um, so I noticed that in between the time that we saw her, around 11:00 and the time she coded, 20:30 was that Kunimi pushed a milligram of morphine after one of her deeper cuts had opened again by her stomach, and she was crying out and stuff. She got it repaired by him, I think, but that’s it,” [Name] is peering over his shoulders, pointing out the things in the chart, reaching under his arm to point it out. “She shouldn’t have coded.”

He sighs, and grabs the paper, “She shouldn’t have. But it’s not your problem anymore, Rookie. It’s mine. Give me the copies of her labs and charts.”

“Is Kunimi going to get in trouble?”

“I’ll talk to him, but probably not. There’s no indication of an allergic reaction, and the dosage was correct for the situation. If anything, it’s my fault. I told him to give her some relief as he saw fit. Give me the copies.”

“Kei.”

The doctor stiffens at the usage of his first name, looking at the other, “we’re not familiar anymore. Don’t use that with me.” Golden eyes meet [eye color] eyes, but she finally concedes, holding her hands up in defeat, before finally picking up the papers, and handing it to him, and as he grabs onto it, tugs, but she doesn’t let go.

“Why did she react like that?”

“What do you mean?”

“She practically screamed bloody murder, which… isn’t completely unheard of but… even as she came to, she still wanted us gone. She wanted all of us gone---except you.” In her moments of speaking, her grip relaxes, and he snatches the paper, practically giving the intern a paper cut.

He rolls his eyes. “Maybe she realized that she didn’t want her life entrusted to two people who can’t even follow simple instructions. I did say watch her like a hawk, didn’t I?”

“I mean --- I mean yes, but---”

“So I’m not sure why you’re still asking me stupid questions.”

“You’re avoiding the question.” 

He looks at [Name], then through the window of 3333 at Yue, who’s resting peacefully, and he looks back to [Name]. “Yue… She’s like my little sister. So… I assigned you to her case because… I wanted her to get the best care she could get.”

“Still avoiding it,” [Name] counters flatly, folding her arms over her chest.

“I said earlier that she was my first patient. Which isn’t false. She was. She had her tumor removed and everything was fine, and we kept in touch. About…” He tucks the papers into his arms. “About two months ago, she came into the E.R. She wouldn’t let anyone touch her, not any one, and she was battered, and bruised and she had a bloodied left hand.” [Name]’s eyebrows visibly knit. “And she was barely verbal. The only person she’d talk to,” Tsukishima swallows uncomfortably, readjusting his glasses, “was me. I was the only one she’d let touch her, and I had been paged from the on-call room after a 48 hour shift. I had slept through three of my pages before Daishou actually came and got me.”

She presses her lips together, and she can feel her mouth getting dry. 

“And I didn’t think it was that long but she must’ve been there for… what… forty minutes before I actually came down?” He snorts in some kind of ironic laughter, but his voice breaks as he speaks the next lines, eyes avoiding the intern. “She had three broken ribs. Black eye. Broken fingernails and cuts all over her body. Reeked of booze. Her… stupid gold shimmer dress had a slash up it. She was waiting there for forty minutes… just breathing and sobbing… in pain.” The attending blanches at his own words. “All because I slept in.”

It’s a few moments that pass on the quiet hospital floor, as [Name] swallows. “She was assaulted.” He doesn’t look at her, as if too afraid to meet look her in the eyes. “What happened to the other guy?”

“He’s going to prison. For a long time.”

“How’d you catch him?”

“Besides Yue’s older brother being one of the best prosecutors in the state? The guy showed up a few hours later in the E.R. He was screaming in pain, begging for a doctor, had a shallow but large scrape on his face that resembled a clawing motion.” He pauses. “And a ruptured left testicle.”

Her breath hitches at the thought of it, and she turns around to look at Yue, who’s still sleeping away under the off white, slightly blue sheets of the hospital, light brown hair surrounding her like a halo. “I never would’ve… She’s so… bubbly.”

“So, that’s why she reacted the way she did today. She’s still… healing. Some things take longer to heal than others. Even if it doesn’t scar.” A pause. “I think it’s the therapy,” he says, joining her to look at the patient. “Her fear… is supposed to be converted into some other emotion. Hers being…” Tsukishima frowns slightly, “happiness. Or maybe kindness. She’s usually more… quiet than this. But she’s more prone to anger. Which is… something I hope you won’t have to experience.” The two linger in the hallway, looking at the rise and fall of her chest, the green mountains on the monitor that show heart rate, before he turns to her, once more. “You still up for the challenge, [Last Name]?”

“Excuse me?”

“We still don’t know why she went into v-fib. I want to know by the end of tomorrow.” He hands her the labs, a satisfying plop in her hands. “She’s your patient again, if you want. You’ll be on my service for the rest of the day too.”

She grips the files in her hands, and nods slightly, before turning to him, “what do I do if she doesn’t want me near her?”

“I’ll let her know tomorrow what’s going to be happening. At least this way, it won’t be a surprise. Don’t let me down, [Last Name].”

“Of course.”

The two stand in silence for a moment, before he raises an eyebrow, giving her a look. “Don’t you have booze to pick up?”

Flush comes to her features, as she nods, brushing past him, as he smiles with her back to him, shaking his head, before heading to his office.

-

“This was supposed to be a small get together,” [Name] seethes at Kuroo, and while she speaks, using her hands to do so, “Suguru is going to kill me! I’m not gonna be able to come back to work, because Suguru’s gonna fucking kill me!”

“Listen,” she can already smell the alcohol on his breath as he throws an arm over her shoulder, “it wasn’t me. I just told the intern class, and a few residents. I didn’t know this many people were going to talk about it. Or talk! Besides, didn’t he say he was on a consult out at Seattle Grace? You’re fine! We’ll clean it up before we leave, I promise.”

Beer cans and bottles litter the floor, red solo cups everywhere, as [Name] sets the vodka and Malibu on the kitchen counter, where it seems to be a little quieter, a little less rank, even as people shove through towards the back yard, it’s relatively quiet. She snatches the tequila off the table, and sits on the counter next to the sink, so she’s looking down at Kuroo, who’s followed her, his own red solo cup filled to the brim with some concoction. “I’m holding you to your word, Kuroo,” she says, cracking open the tequila, and with her lips to the mouth of the bottle, knocks it back. Burns as it goes down her throat, but she ignores it, ignores it all, because she needs to get the image of Yue out of her  _ head _ , that poor, poor girl. A shiver goes down her spine.

“Holy shit.”

“What?”

“That was… hardcore. And kind of hot.”

“Really?” And as if to prove it to him once more, she repeats the process --- once, twice, three times --- within the hour span that she can, before finally setting it down on the counter next to her, throwing her arms around Kuroo haphazardly, and his hands settle on her hips, “am I still hot?”

“Extremely.”

A frown comes to her features, as her forehead touches to his gently, “I think you’re a liar.”

“Would I lie to you?” He gives a side smile to her, hand reaching out to brush [hair color] hair away from her face, hand lingering on her cheek, and she leans into his touch, eyes fluttering shut gently. His breath smells like apple vodka, and she swears she can feel him sigh shakily, but he’s so close to her, before she sits up, smushing her hands against his cheeks.

“Oh my god.  _ Oh my god. _ I want pizza.” 

He looks at her through squished features, before laughter breaks out of pink lips, and he sighs, “you’re too cute. Do you have any in the freezer?”

She nods.

He pinches her side with his free hand, and she yelps, as he saunters over to the freezer. It’s a few poking around, especially confusion as he moves aside the frozen bananas marked as, ‘ _ Suguru’s, [Name] don’t touch these these are for my fucking banana bread’ _ , pulling out a frozen pizza. He preheats the oven, sliding the frozen pizza out of the box and onto a baking sheet, before moving past the oven and [Name] towards the living room. 

“Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna have Kunimi, Yaku and Iwaizumi clear the rest of the house out. I heard them doing it earlier, but I don’t know if they finished up. I’ll be right back.”

-

It’s a miracle they’ve cleaned out the entire house of anything dangerous: empty beer cans and bottles, empty liquor bottles and some red solo cups. [Name] leans into Kunimi, piece of [favorite pizza] in her hand, head on his shoulder. Kuroo and Iwaizumi sit next to each other, and Yaku being the only one not buzzed, is scrubbing vigorously at the first attempt of pizza that’s still left over on the baking sheet.

“Are you guys crashing here tonight?” She’s a bit sobered up, but not completely, taking another bite of the pizza. “‘Cause we have three empty guest rooms, and someone can share my room or take Suguru’s room.”

“Are we not gonna address the whole ass elephant in the room about how you’re living with an attending?” Iwaizumi cuts in, “that’s not exactly normal.”

“Oh! Oh, right!” She sits up from Kunimi, who sits up with her, even though he had been drifting off just a few moments before. “So like, when I was a kid, my parents just like. Ya know. Left me with my birth certificate at some place. And like, it was all cool and stuff, except it wasn’t, but that’s not really the point. The Daishou family took me in and legally adopted me when I was like… four. So, yeah. It was cool. He’s my brother. And annoying. And a dick. I don’t like him. But like, I love him.” She turns to Kunimi, still clearly not sobered up  _ completely _ , “you get me?”

The intern looks at [Name], placing a hand on her shoulder, before sighing. “You need to go to bed.”

“Maybe so.”

“Is it okay if I stay in one of the guest rooms?” Kunimi asks, and his friend nods in confirmation. 

It’s a split of discussions that Yaku, Iwaizumi and Kunimi will take the guest rooms, and they all head off, talking about  _ ‘we still need to change’  _ and ‘ _ will I smell like booze tomorrow’ _ .

“Alright, come on puzzle solver. Let’s get you to bed.” Kuroo holds his hand out to [Name], who takes it as she slips off the counter, and he tugs her almost deadweight body along, turning off lights as he does so, hardwood floor turning to carpet as he drags her up the stairs. “You could at least try to walk.”

“But I’m  _ tired _ .”

“So am I. Which one’s your room?”

“The door  _ aaaa _ ll the way down the hall on the left.”

And being able to follow instructions, he takes her to her room. Turned off fairy lights litter the ceiling with a nearly pristine, and when he flicks the light on, they turn on, soft yellow light radiating throughout the room. It’s a polaroid wall that catches his attention, pictures with other friends, childhood, family that he notices as she tugs at his arm, and for a moment, he swears he sees a flash of gold. His gaze is only stolen away when [Name] pulls him into bed, and by pull, she  _ yoinks _ him into bed. It’s nowhere near sexy, but more cute, and he all but collapses on top of her in giggles, but they roll over, so at least he’s not crushing her anymore.

His breath is on hers, and hers on his, and they reek of booze and pizza, but neither seem to particularly care, as his hand reaches out to brush the hair out of her face again. “You got a little something right there.”

“Thank you,” eyes are fluttering shut as he strokes her cheek gently, “you’re truly… too kind.”

“Maybe.” Her eyes are fully shut now, and he sits up, before pushing himself off her bed, taking a moment to appreciate the pastel [favorite color] sheets and duvet; pulls it over her gently. “Good night, [Name].” He turns the light off, and heads for the door, her light snores making him smirk, but a small moan, or spoken phrase is enough to get him to stop in his tracks.

“Good night, Kei.”

He pauses.

Weird. He must’ve misheard her.


	4. Conflict of Interest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 【 chapter four 】  
> 【 warnings 】implication of date rape drugs  
> 【 word count 】5645  
> 【 summary 】"It's the job, [Last Name]."  
> 【 tumblr 】 mcrninglights (personal) / hquties (writing)  
> -
> 
>  
> 
> 【 Doctor!Tsukishima Kei x Doctor!Reader x ? 】

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> akira and the reader become closer, a competition of sorts.  
> and so the story goes...
> 
> kudos and comments are appreciated uwu

Her head is pounding, and she groans in response to it, frown on her face as she sits up in her bed, comforter falling off of her, glass of water next to her bed. She doesn’t remember putting it there last night, so she’ll chalk it up to Kuroo or Kunimi coming in in the morning to leave it there. She looks at the alarm clock next to her, running a hand through messy hair, and groaning at the time. 6 AM. 

There’s a soft knock at the door.

“Mmm… come in,” she groans, rolling over to the side of her bed that doesn’t have sunlight streaming onto it, and the door creaks open gently, but it’s shut quietly behind whoever enters. She throws an arm over her eyes, to shield her from the light, looking at who’s standing in the doorway. Kunimi. “Did you come to laugh at me?”

“No, but I should’ve.” He’s dressed in slacks and a striped cardigan, hands in his pockets as he looks at the intern in her bed. “I’m making sure you didn’t die by accident like choking on your own vomit.”

“Come here,” she motions for him to come closer, and he tentatively looks around the room, as if to make sure that there’s no hidden cameras around, but he approaches the rookie’s bed quietly, but as soon as he’s close enough, he’s tugged into bed with her, nothing more than a yelp to escape his lips. “Talk to me until I wake up.”

“You are awake. And I could’ve talked to you over there,” he motions to the doorway, but looks down at [Name]. “You’re not still drunk, are you?”

“Hm, no.”

“What is it you wanted to talk about, then?”

There’s a brief silence that falls over the two, as the rookie makes herself comfortable, sitting up and leaning into her friend, fiddling with the edge of his brown cardigan. It’s taking her a few moments to piece together her thoughts, but she finally speaks after a few moments. “Kei … er, Dr. Tsukishima let me back on Yue’s case. But…”

“You’re still thinking about work?” He raises an eyebrow at the other in some kind of mix of being impressed and confusion, “we don’t have to go in for a few hours. Be more focused on something like… breakfast. Iwaizumi’s cooking.”

“No it’s just... What he told me… I don’t know… it’s sad.”

“Hm… yeah,” he agrees gently, as his friend looks up to him, confusion on her face. “What?”

“I thought he only told  _ me _ that!”

“He did. I know Yue. We…” Akira trails off, words lingering on his tongue, “we’re friends. And that night I…” His eyebrows knit together, “I was in the waiting room waiting for her. She didn’t know who else to call.” The rookie sighs, taking his hand in both of hers, encouraging him to go on, small hands fiddling with his bigger ones, “and it’s just… we got closer. She’s just a close friend.”

She squeezes his hand in hers, “you’re a  _ good _ friend.”

“Maybe.” He shrugs, before shrugging her off and standing up, her nearly landing face first into her bed, as he stands up and stretches, a small  _ oof _ coming from her. “But you need to stand up. And get dressed. I’ll wait for you outside. Hurry up so you can eat some breakfast.” He sends a small smile her way, though, before exiting through the door quietly, and she smiles to herself before finally hoisting herself out of bed. 

  
  


“You had a  **_what_ ** at our house?” [Name] winces away, hand at her temple at the loud voice of her brother, but he repeats it so not everyone stares as he speaks. “I thought you were an adult. You’re not a 21 year old frat boy,” Suguru scolds her, and it’s hard for her not to flinch away from his voice. She could barely hold the breakfast from this morning, and it’s not because Iwaizumi is a terrible cook; quite opposite, in fact. “I thought you were  _ responsible _ ,” he says lowly, rubbing the bridge of his nose, “I don’t… want you falling back into old habits.”

A frown comes to her face, as Suguru rubs her arms gently, “I know. I’m sorry. It just got out of hand. Kuroo invited more people than I expected and…”

Daishou’s face turns from comforting to some sort of annoyance or anger at the mention of the other. “Maybe you shouldn’t be hanging out with those—”

“Dr. Daishou?” Kunimi looks to the neurosurgeon, and he whirls on the intern, placating his most annoyed smile on his face he can. 

“What is it? We’re kind of busy at the moment.”

[Name] motions for Kunimi to stop as he speaks, a  _ do not approach, holy shit _ motion behind her brother, and he does well to not acknowledge her. “Well, Dr. Sugawara told me to tell Dr. Oikawa to tell Dr. Tsukishima—”

“Get to the point, Akira.”

Eyes widen, “Dr. Tsukishima needs you right away,” he says quickly, and Suguru shoots a look to his sister over his shoulder:  _ this isn’t over yet.  _

“Interns,” he groans underneath his breath, before peeling off down the hallway.

“You know, I’d never thought I’d say it, but I’m never been more glad Dr. Tsukishima existed.”

“Well, you can thank me,” Akira says pointedly, “Dr. Tsukishima didn’t need me, but it looked like Daishou was about to ream you out.”

[Name] sighs in relief as she flops against Akira, fatigue weighing her down, her head resting on his shoulder. His hand gently takes through her hair, as she sighs in contentment. “What would I do without you?”

“...crash and burn, probably.” He peels her away from him. “Let’s get some coffee before we start with rounding again, yeah?”

She nods. 

 

“How are you feeling today, Yue?” [Name] offers the most brilliant smile she can to the patient in bed, who’s sitting up and doing some kind of work on the desk in front of her, scattered Greek letters on her paper and strings of numbers that the doctor doesn’t want to wrap her head around. “You gave us quite a scare last night.”

She raises a hand to laugh quietly at the other. “So I’ve heard. Kei gave me the rundown. Sorry about that.”

[Name] smiles. “It’s fine. I’m just here to do a work up to see if I can find what’s wrong and why you arrested. But before I start… is there anybody you’d like me to call? Like your brother, or someone? I know how scary hospitals can be.”

She shakes her head, smirking. “Calling my brother is more trouble than it’s worth. He’ll just be angry I interrupted whatever deposition he had today.” She smiles at the other. “Can I ask you something?”

The Rookie nods. 

“Kei… He took Akira off the case. Why did he…?”

A gentle sigh, as [Name] snaps gloves on, as she motions for Yue to hold her arm out, which she does, and she tries to ignore the ragged cut marks on her arms, some self-inflicted, other ragged and obviously not, as if someone was dragging upon her arms. They’re not red and inflamed, but the Rookie can only imagine how she’s gotten them. “Akira… is a conflict of interest.” She presses her middle finger and her pointer finger, trying to find a vein, and continues to speak as she uncaps the needle. “While you guys aren’t family, you two are too close to be working on each other. It’s like me working on him if he comes into the hospital, or working on Kuroo --- he was the guy who was there last night --- it wouldn’t work.” She pauses, sighing as she sticks the needle up into her left arm, and Yue winces lightly at the feeling of it. “With a conflict of interests, they wouldn’t be able to make the tough decisions without hesitating.”

Yue falls silent at the words of the other, nodding quietly, watching as blood flowed out of the tube and into the vial. “That makes sense… I guess.”

It’s a quick wrap up, as [Name] snaps the gloves off and puts the vial on the counter, scribbling some things onto a clipboard, looking towards the patient as she hands off the vial and charts off to a nurse. “You look like you’re healing up pretty well from the car accident.”

“Really?” It’s only been a day, but a bright grin returns to her face as she brushes brown hair out of her features. “I’m glad. I didn’t think thursday would’ve ended like it did,” she says with a laugh, “really out of my depth there.”

[Name] clicks her pen and slips it into her pocket, turning to the other. “I have time. What happened, anyways?”

“We were celebrating,” Yue says gently, turning back to the work in front of her, “I graduated with my Masters in Astrophysics, Math and Chemistry on thursday,” she says softly, “and we were doing shots, one for each year I … wasted away in school.”

“Astrophysics? What do you mean, you’re like, five!”

Yue laughs. “I’m 22.”

“With a Masters in Astrophysics, and all the other things? Kid genius here,” [Name] scoffs with a roll of her eyes. 

“It’s so weird, though, you know,” Yue says with a laugh, “I don’t even remember what happened after like, the third shot,” she says with a laugh. “Akira would be so disappointed in me. I just remember talking to this guy, and he was like,  _ so _ attractive, Dr. [Last Name], like...” She blinks several times, and the smile that she’s speaking with slowly fades away, “he was so nice, and he bought me a drink and everything and…” Her eyebrows knit together as she exhales gently, gaze falling to the floor. “I don’t remember his face. I don’t remember what he looks like.” Her voice is barely above a whisper, as she looks down at the work that she’s doing on the table, but she smiles with the bright grin that she does all the time, looking back up at her. “I probably drank too much. Sorry about that.”

 

“They’re running a tox screen on her right now, although, I doubt anything will show up other than some form of alcohol poisoning,” [Name] says, shoving another bite of food into her mouth as she turns to Kuroo, “and like I love Kunimi. I  _ really  _ do. But he seriously has some weird choice of friends.”

“Yeah, I’m sure becoming friends with another person who loves tequila too much wasn’t exactly on his agenda,” Kuroo remarks, rolling his eyes as he picks a piece of chicken off her plate. “Give the girl a break. You heard what she was studying. You’d be an alcoholic if you were ---  _ oh wait _ .” He gives her a knowing smile, before smacking her upside the head. “You shouldn’t be so insensitive.”

“Maybe.” She spies Kunimi from across the cafeteria, waving for him to come over and join them, but as he approaches, he’s shaking his head. “Hey, what’s with the face?”

“I’m gonna eat with Yue. She’s bored. You guys are welcome to come,” he says, and although his face is blank, she can just feel it in her  _ bones _ that he’d rather her come along than leave the two of them alone. He checks his pager, “but I don’t care either way.”

[Name] stands up, and waves for Kuroo to follow suit, but he shakes his head. “I said I’d wait for Iwaizumi and Yaku. Go. I’ll see you later,” he says, shoving another piece of food into his mouth ungracefully, and [Name] follows the other. 

“How were your cases today?” She sidles up to her friend, small smile on her features as they walk with their food in hand. She takes a peek over at what he has: a salad and a slice of cake. 

Kunimi shrugs. “Better than most. Caught a little boy with a malignant tumor in his brain this morning,” he says flatly, and his delivery is what makes his friend wince, “it was pretty sad, but since we caught it early, we were able to page Sugawara, and get an OR booked.”

“That’s good. And the cake is for Yue, I assume?”

“Mhm.”

A smile comes to her face as they approach her room, 3333, and she elbows him gently. “What a good  _ friend _ .”

“A great  _ friend _ indeed,” he says, putting emphasis on the word  _ friend _ , pushing the door open, holding it open for [Name]. “We’re here, Yue.”

“Yay!” A small, soft voice calls out, as she lowers the TV from her hospital bed. “I know I said to come visit me for lunch, but it’d be even better if you figured out what was  _ wrong _ with me,” she says, sugary coated voice and million dollar smile flashed at the two doctors, as Kunimi offers a slight smile before taking a seat on the couch in the room after placing the cake in front of her. The Rookie visibly dampens at her patient’s words. “Don’t look so sad, Dr. [Last Name]. I know I gave you a scare yesterday. I’ll try not to go into cardiac arrest again.” She laughs quietly, as Kunimi frowns, shooting her a look. “What? It’s true. I’ll try my very hardest.”

“Funny,” he deadpans, and she sticks her tongue out at him, before picking up the plastic fork brought with the cake and cutting into it. “Have you done anything while you were here or have you just been…?”

“I’ve been watching TV and doing some applications for Grad school. I’m applying to UChicago, so…” 

A ghost of a smile crosses Kunimi’s features. “My school.”

“Oh, don’t get so smiley. I’m not going because of  _ you _ . Their Astrophysics program is phenomenal.” The Rookie takes a seat next to Kunimi, but even now she feels out of place. Like she’s intruding on something personal. Quick banter back and forth between the two of them seems just as natural as rain against the window pane on a stormy day, and it causes a frown to come to her lips. She finishes the rest of her food in silence, listening to the two continue.

It’s a knock on the door that snaps her out of her observation of the two, and she looks up to the other. A boy with green hair and a cowlick that just doesn’t seem like it wants to go down dressed in light green scrubs. “Hi. Um, I’m… I’m Nurse Yamaguchi…” He gives a wary smile to [Name], holding up a grey clipboard of charts, as her brow furrows. 

“Well?”

“Oh, right! Her labs came back, if you want to…” He looks between Yue and Akira who are still bantering between the two, talking something about the statistics of diagnostics, and she takes her leave, stepping into the somewhat quiet hallway. 

“What’s wrong with them?”

“You should… see for yourself.”

The tox screens come back with nothing as a surprise --- except for one highly elevated one, which doesn’t look right. It’s a stark red against the normal green charts, and the number next to it is incredibly high. “Fluoxetine? But she would’ve told us if she takes medication, and there’s no record of her ever taking it. It’s almost enough for an overdose.”

“Yeah. Her medical history shows no signs of her ever taking it.”

It’s a few moments that [Name] takes to pause, before Yue’s words tick at the back of her mind. 

_ “It’s so weird, though, you know,” Yue says with a laugh, “I don’t even remember what happened after like, the third shot,” she says with a laugh. “Akira would be so disappointed in me. I just remember talking to this guy, and he was like, so attractive, Dr. [Last Name], like...” She blinks several times, and the smile that she’s speaking with slowly fades away, “he was so nice, and he bought me a drink and everything and…” Her eyebrows knit together as she exhales gently, gaze falling to the floor. “I don’t remember his face. I don’t remember what he looks like.” Her voice is barely above a whisper, as she looks down at the work that she’s doing on the table, but she smiles with the bright grin that she does all the time, looking back up at her. “I probably drank too much. Sorry about that.” _

Her heart sinks into her chest, as she looks at the two in the room, and there’s something inaudible that Yue snaps out, and Akira laughs, but [Name] can’t stop this heavy feeling in her heart, her chest tight and her arms heavy. “Thanks, Yamaguchi.”

“Of course.” He takes a worried glance to her, then to the patient, before taking his leave.

 

“Dr. Tsukishima.”

“Come in.”

[Name] enters the office, and for a moment, forgets the chart that’s in her hand in opt to take a look around instead. There’s a fair amount of light coming in from the window behind him, and it seems he’s taken to a more modern design, nothing too desolate like she thought she’d find. Smooth white desk and silver metal shelves with boundless amounts of books on them and geometric design sculptures on the empty spaces… it’s odd. Not what she expected, that’s for sure.

“Rookie,” he says, not even looking up from the pile of papers he has in front of him. “I’d like to think you have a good reason for interrupting me, but apparently, you just like to stand there like an idiot.”

[Name] scoffs at Tsukishima’s words, rolling her [eye color] eyes at his reaction, crossing her arms over her chest. She says nothing, only pursing her lips into a disapproving pout, raising an eyebrow at him. “Seriously?”

A certain look crosses his face. Shame, fear, irritation, pride --- a mixture of all of them as he looks up from the pile of papers to her. “What is it, Dr. [Last Name]?”

“It’s Yue. Her tox screen came back and she had a high dosage of fluoxetine that doesn’t come from regular use of SSRIs. She doesn’t have the medical history of taking them either,” she explains, holding the chart out for the attending to take.

“Your point?”

“And she was heavily drinking last night as well.”

“Are you here to suggest that my personal friend and patient is abusing drugs?” He raises an eyebrow towards the other, unsure of what to think of what she’s saying, or, maybe just forcing her to say what she thinks at loud. A frown places itself onto her lips as she sighs, folding her arms over her chest once more, tapping her foot on the white rug below her.

“No. That’s not what I’m saying. She would’ve told someone if she was taking drugs. She’s not  _ stupid _ .”

He’s rubbing the bridge of his nose as he leans back in his chair, that creaks underneath his weight as he does so. “Then what is it?”   
“I don’t know how else she’d ingest such a large dosage without realizing it or telling us. She’d tell someone if she was on anti-depressants, or her doctor, right?” She cants her head gently towards Tsukishima, [eye color] eyes watching the other, before both their eyes meet. “I mean, who else would there ---” She cuts herself off.

It’s simultaneously they speak together. “Akira.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s no way that she’d be abusing drugs, especially fluoxetine,” he says, but he doesn’t sound as much angry as stressed out, as he looks to the girl sleeping in her bed, and he says it under his breath, as if somehow afraid she’ll hear him.

“You heard how much she drank first hand. I know you don’t think so, but is it possible that she  _ might _ \---”

“No. It’s not. I know her,” Akira says with some kind of finality. “If you ask her, she’ll tell you the same thing that I did. That she doesn’t  _ take _ those things.”

“Dr. Kunimi, if I find out that you’re lying to me, you’re making a big mistake. I understand that she’s your friend and you don’t want her to get in trouble, but she’s a patient first, friend second.” Akira looks down, pursing his lips, and for a moment, [Name] considers bailing him out, but the blonde attending is faster. Talking bright and lividly, even if i’m still a level tone that’s the standard for him. “She’s a bright girl but I know it gets hard in college, especially with what she pursued. If she’s misusing---”

“I’m not.” All three turn towards the voice at the door way, and [Name] feels her heart drop into her stomach, as the blonde one meets her gaze evenly, opening his mouth to speak, but a look from Yue, a glare, no less than fire sparked up in her eyes is all that it takes for him to shut up. “And I’d take to it kindly that you wouldn’t talk about me like I’m not here,  _ or _ interrogate Akira. I don’t appreciate you bullying your interns. That’s not teaching them. It’s hurtful. And damaging.” She crosses her arms over her chest, hospital gown folding beneath them as she does so. “So figure it out, Kei. [Last Name]. Don’t interrogate Akira. You told me yourself that he’s not my doctor, so don’t ask him about my medical history.”

 

The intern rolls the pen on the marbled floor of the hospital, legs spread out in a v-shape as she goes over the chart once more. The words are swimming off the page, and the fluorescent lighting of the hospital does nothing to alleviate the situation. At least it’s not loud or noisy. The night shifts are nicer, she’ll admit. Her stomach growls  _ loudly _ and a small laugh in the otherwise silent hallway is enough to make [Name]’s head snap up.

“How long have you been standing there?” Accusatory tone from fatigue filled intern, but the silver headed man lets a gentle chuckle fall from his lips, but he doesn’t sound too upset with her. He’s donned in dark blue scrubs and has a kind look on his features.

“Long enough,” he says, “I’m---”

“Dr. Sugawara, right?”

He nods in approval. “Just Suga is fine, though. Enough room for two? The hospital is eerily quiet, and I’m not sure I want to be alone looking at scans all night.” She raises an eyebrow, but nonetheless scoots over, more towards the closed door of the patient room to make room for the attending. He seems to take no qualms with sliding down next to her, mimicking her position with his legs spread out wide, their feet knocking together. “What’s got you all tied up?”

There’s this warm feeling that rushes over her --- one of safety and comfort, really --- as she turns to the other, a deep sigh emanating from her chest as she closes the chart. “It’s my patient. Kyotani Yue. She… she coded last night for no discernable reason, and when we did a tox screen, she had extremely high levels of fluoxetine,” she explains, moving her hands gently to walk him through the scenario, “but she hasn’t been taking any. Or she says she hasn’t, and quite frankly, I believe her.”

A hum of knowing passes Sugawara’s lips, as he pushes down [Name]’s hands, which are still up from her speaking with them, and they go limp in her lap. “What a predicament… So she didn’t take them herself, but they did get into her  _ somehow _ .” He turns to face her, and the trace of a smile that used to be on his features, eyebrows knitting together in some kind of concern. “You can’t change that. The fact of the matter is that the drugs are in her system. So if it wasn’t her…” He trails off, shrugging gently, and a realization dawns upon the Rookie, but before she can open her mouth, he’s speaking again. “It had to be someone else. You probably already knew that, though, even if you didn’t want to admit it.”

Her heart drops into her stomach for the second time that day, Yue’s words coming up to remind her again; gaze falling to her hands in her blue scrubbed lap. “ _ Shit _ . What am I supposed… what am I supposed to tell her?”

Sugawara sighs. “The truth.” 

“It’ll kill her. She’ll feel so…  _ used _ . Guilty. I mean, thank god Shiberu was there, but still...”

He sighs once more, patting her shoulder gently, giving it a squeeze. “It’s the job, Dr. [Last Name].” 

 

“Yue’s doing well, by the way,” Akira says gently under his breath as he elbows his way next to his friend. “She got discharged this morning.”

“Good, good,” [Name] says gently, eyes up on the podium in front of her. It’s amazing that she can even hear her friend over the bustling of the other interns, “I’m just glad we figured it out.”

“ _ We _ didn’t do anything,” he counters, “it was all you, [Name].”

A small smile curls upon her lips. “Maybe.” A pause. “Do you know why we’re all here? I’m sure they know we have rounds today.”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” His eyes follow the stage, as Tsukishima steps onto it, followed by some other attendings, most notably, Sugawara and Daishou. The gaggles and whispers as produced by the crowd of interns quiets with a decrescendo, as the blonde steps up to the mic, clearing his throat.

“I hate you all.” 

It’s a dead silence that falls over the crowd, as [Name] spies the silver haired man blanch at his co-worker’s lack of finesse, before replacing him, quite practically shoving him aside. “What Dr. Tsukishima says holds no merit to what we’re here to offer you all.” A laughter from the crowd, including [Name], who meets Sugawara’s gaze, giving him an encouraging smile, who nearly beams back at her. “This year, we’re doing something with the interns, with approval from the Chief of the hospital. Each year, a handful of attendings all go to the Chicago Medical Conference for Advancements and Technology, or the CMCAT.”

“Lucky…” Kunimi whispers underneath his breath, before [Name] shrugs. 

“Eh. Suguru told me about it, and it’s basically just Big Pharma trying to make a buck, but apparently there’s a bunch of other cool things there if you know where to look,” she whispers underneath her breath, “I’ve never gone, though.”

“This year, each attending is allowed to bring an Intern of their choice with them. The attendings you see on stage are the ones that you have to gain the approval of---” And like all the other interns, [Name]’s gaze drops to the stage. Suguru, Sugawara, Oikawa and Tsukishima are all pat for the course, and Sugawara continues to speak. “They might not choose out of their specialty, so it’d be wise of you to be at your best. You’re competing against everyone you see here, so… do your best.” Gaze falls to everyone else on the stage up with the four aforementioned --- a woman with dark hair and glasses, some guy with blonde hair and an undercut, kind of looks like a douche, and another guy who’s red hair sticks up like a rooster, and is eyeing the crowd with an eye that makes her feel underneath the scalpel.

“Isn’t having Dr. Daishou go a conflict of interest with you?” Akira turns to her, blinking as he looks down at her. “He’ll just choose you since you’re his little sister.”

She shakes her head, [hair color] locks following. “Doubt it. He’ll do everything in his power not to choose me  _ because _ I’m his sister. I probably won’t end up going.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have to work harder to go,” Kunimi says pointedly, grabbing a glance at her. “I want to go with  _ you _ . I don’t know if I’d survive if I went without you.” She laughs and rolls her eyes at him. “I’m serious, [Name]. I want to go, and you should too.”

She shrugs. “I’m not that good at my job. Like, yeah, I’m a doctor, but I’m not exactly great like you or Dr. Tsukishima or Kuroo.”

He shrugs, before turning to Sugawara who speaks again, silencing the group of interns once more. “Air-fare and hotel will be paid mostly by the hospital, but as it is a three day conference, it’ll be expected that you pay for your own food and such.” He looks up towards the giddy group of interns, before smiling once more as his eyes catch [Name]’s. “I wish you the best of luck!”

And it takes all that she has to not get trampled by the monochromatic interns dressed in scrubs.

 

“[Name].” She freezes at the sound of her name, pausing in front of the lounge for the interns. She can see through the window that it’s barely sunset, but it’s not something she’s too worried about. Find her turning slowly on the ball of her heel, gaze meeting the attending’s, as she clears her throat.

“It’s Dr. [Last Name], Dr. Tsukishima,” she corrects sharply, raising an eyebrow. “How can I help you?”

“The CMCAT. I’m aware that you heard of it, and I want you to know that if you want Suguru---” She holds up a hand to stop the doctor, irritation clear on her features.

“I don’t plan on using Suguru as a free ticket to go there, if that’s what you’re implying, which is pretty insulting, although, that seems par for the course with you.” He flinches back from her words, frown on his lips. “Suguru would never choose me as his intern. You should know this.”

The blonde frowns. “Alright. I’m just making sure you know.”   
“What did Yue say about bullying those below you? Hm… I forgot…” Let’s her voice wander in some kind of fake innocence before rolling her eyes. “Clearly you listened.”

He rolls his eyes at her words, turning around to walk off to his office, but halfway down the hall, and as she takes her phone out of her white lab coat, he calls out to her. “For the record, I do want you to come. It’s a good experience. I don’t know if you’ll  _ actually _ make it, but I do hope you don’t disappoint, Dr. [Last Name].” With that, he turns around, and hangs a left, leaving a smile curling upon her lips, despite earlier interaction. Chest tightens as she turns towards the door and opens it, only for her name to be called out again. Exasperation leaks into her voice as she whirls around.

“What do you  _ want _ \--- Dr. Sugawara!” She stiffens at realizing who it is; who she’s dubbed Silver Haired McDreamy to Kuroo and Akira, and she’s only thankful that she didn’t actually drop the nickname in front of him. “Sorry, I thought you were---”

“Don’t mind, don’t mind. Seriously, Suga is fine.” He’s dressed quite nicely, she’ll note, a white cardigan with a few, thin blue stripes and a light blue shirt underneath, jeans --- she doesn’t think she’s ever seen him  _ not _ in his scrubs, and she stops herself for a moment. McDreamy was  _ right _ . “I was just about to head out, and I wanted to know if you wanted to get drinks with me,” he says with a gentle smile. “I was going to go with Kiyoko, but she cancelled.”

Her heart stops in her chest, as she presses her lips together, before nodding happily. “Um--- Yeah, yeah, no totally, I’d love to get drinks with you! Lemme just go change real quick!” She motions to the room behind her, and he nods, as she slips into it.

He leans against the wall next to the doorway, pulling phone out, small smile on his lips, shooting off a quick text to Kiyoko,  _ hey! your plan worked! ty! you are the best :)  _ , and it’s only a moment later that her response comes,  _ ofc, but you owe me breakfast! _ He can’t stop the smile from growing on his lips, slipping the phone back into his pocket easily.

“Sugawara. You look especially happy today,” the blonde attending passes him by, carrying charts in his left hand. “Have you seen Dr. [Last Name]? I wanted to speak with her.”

He frowns. “Yeah. She’s busy changing; her shift’s done, though. Why?”

Tsukishima gives the Neurosurgeon a once over, face careful not to reveal anything as he shakes his head. “Never mind. Don’t worry about it. I’ll give it to Kageyama for her tomorrow.” He pauses. “Do you… do you have plans with her?”

Sugawara suppresses a smile before nodding. “We’re going out for drinks.”

Find expression never faltering, but Tsukishima’s heart stops at the response of the other, and he swallows, nodding. “Have fun.”

“I’ll try,” he says with a small smile and a thumbs up to him, and Kei takes his leave, trying to ignore this sinking feeling in his chest. Tears off down the hallway, nearly running into several nurses as he does so, heart pounding in his chest, blood rushing as he tries to even his breathing. He only stops at the sound of golden notes that come from [Name]’s voice, and he’s too scared to take a look back. 

“Are you ready to go?” Sugawara says kindly, and a small silver laugh comes from her lips.

“Of course I am.”

He knows that taking a look back is just going to make him more annoyed, more irritated, more --- more unhappy, but he can’t  _ not _ look. It’s not in his nature to deny himself of that, but regret surges up like vomit in his throat when he sees the two arm and arm, her laughing at something Sugawara has said. He takes another look at her, before a gentle sigh escapes his lips, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. 

Dammit.

She looks gorgeous.


End file.
